Ask HN: Is it OK to look at AoC solutions?
I'm yet again attempting AoC. I've never completed one yet. Mostly I get too busy on the run up to Christmas but sometimes I just get stuck.
This brings me to my question. If you are stuck is it OK to just look at a solution?
For me, I got stuck on Day 1 Part 2. No amount of hints worked, so I just found a solution. I managed to get the code to produce the correct answer. I still don't understand why, I'm not good at maths. AI can't ELI5 either.
So is it good to see how others solved the problem? Or just remain stuck, and not understanding why?
Personally I feel better about knowing a solution to the problem even if I didn't solve it myself, mostly because not knowing is worse.
It’s better to look at other solutions, analyze and understand them to learn something new rather than giving up and not learning something new